


Agony

by LMDrums



Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: Chronic Pain, Gunshot Wounds, Injury, Major Character Injury, Pain, Painkillers, Physical Therapy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-08
Updated: 2018-12-08
Packaged: 2019-09-13 23:42:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 10,283
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16902015
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LMDrums/pseuds/LMDrums
Summary: How could a gunshot wound in the knee hurt so much? Reid's world comes crashing down as the reality of his recovery and the pain involved becomes evident. Morgan and Hotch must take care of him before he pushes himself too far. Lots of caretaking and Reid in considerable pain. (Takes place after 5x1 Nameless, Faceless)





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fanfiction and has not been proofread. Please leave a comment or kudos if you enjoyed!   
> DISCLAIMER: I do not own Criminal Minds or its characters  
> Thank you so much for reading!

Why did it hurt so bad? It had been a month since the accident when Spencer was shot, yet the pain was constant.  
The thought of his knee was unending and he winced at every slight movement. The team couldn’t know how bad it really was. Work was more important, the victims of the crimes they investigated deserved the team’s full attention.  
“Hey, Spence! You okay?” JJ remarked as she walked by.  
Spencer was rubbing his aching knee and grimacing at every touch, yet he stopped abruptly when he heard her voice.  
“Yeah, yeah… I’m fine…” His voice trailed off as another shock of pain ran up his leg.  
“Okay, whatever you say. Hey, the whole team is going out for dinner tonight if you wanna come. It should be really fun,” she said with enthusiasm.  
“Yeah that would be great” He didn’t mean that at all. In fact, he would rather get punched in the face than have to sit in a hard dining chair at a restaurant without showing pain for hours. In fact, it might not even be possible. 

Later that night, Spencer made his way up his apartment stairs at a slow, painful pace just as he did every day. Using crutches to go up 3 flights of stairs is an incredibly difficult task, especially when you have a gunshot wound in the knee.  
After making it into his apartment room, he practically fell into the couch. The throbbing was so bad today. He slowly removed the brace that held his surgically repaired knee together. Undoing each strap felt like getting shot again. After finally getting the brace off of his knee and down his pants leg, he rolled up his pants to examine the joint.  
The bruising was terrible. It looked like a kindergartener’s art project if they used purple and black paint. The scars from surgery were still fresh and crossed over the top of his knee. The swelling today was much worse than usual. The pain was so bad tonight, he has to resort to taking some Tylenol even though he didn’t enjoy putting any type of drug into his body.  
Spencer passed out on the couch after such a long day. He awoke at the sound of a text message from Hotch: “Reid, where are you? We are waiting for you at the restaurant. We docked our reservation so I can come and get you. I’ll be there in 5 minutes.”  
At the sight of that text, he almost threw up. How could he say no? But how could he go through with it? There was no way he could get ready in 5 minutes. Hotch would hear his faint cries at every move, he was a profiler after all.  
Spencer threw his phone on the floor and fell back asleep. 

“Reid… Reid!... are you okay?” Hotch was yelling outside the door.  
Spencer awoke with a fright at the shock of his boss’ loud and stern tone. He groaned and yelled out to him that the door was open.  
Aaron entered the small, dreary apartment to find Spencer lying on his couch. He had never seen the boy’s knee without the brace. Its swelling, bruising, and scars were almost repulsive. He hated to see the damage. But the thing that Hotch’s eyes drew to first was the weak face and body. He could see in the boy’s eyes how terrible the pain was.  
“Reid! Why didn’t you tell us it was this bad? You look terrible. Why didn’t you let anyone help you?” Hotch continued on with his questions  
Hotch, I can barely move an inch before it feels like an army of soldiers is attacking my leg. I haven’t slept in days, it takes an hour to get up my steps, and I can’t even sit still without wincing.”  
“Reid… You should’ve taken more time off. The team can do without you. The pain you are experiencing is incredible. I’m sending Morgan over here so he can take you to his house. There is no way I am letting you take care of yourself”  
Spencer wanted to protest. He wasn’t a baby. Just because he couldn’t walk or do practically anything without a constant pain didn’t mean he needed someone to take care of him.  
Alas, there was no hope in reckoning with Hotch as he had already called Morgan.  
“Hey Morgan, I need you to come over here to Reid’s apartment. His knee is really bad and I need your help.”  
“Is he okay? If one more thing happens to that kid I am going to have a heart attack!”  
“Yeah Morgan. Nothing else has happened, but he looks like he is about to pass out from the pain he is in. I think you need to take him to your house for a couple days at least.”  
“Okay, I’m on my way. Tell the kid to take some pain medicine at least. I’m sure he hasn’t taken his prescription, but over-the-counter is something. I’ll be there in about 10 minutes.”  
Morgan arrived in Reid’s apartment shortly after, carrying a bag of supplies from the local drug store. He came in and dumped its contents on the table. A heating pad, some extra-strength Tylenol, along with some fuzzy socks were laid out on the table.  
“Morgan, what is all of this for? I don’t need help,” Reid tried to reason.  
“Pretty boy, just let me help you, there is no way Hotch and I are going to leave you like this.”  
Derek kneeled down by the couch to look at the boy’s knee. Spencer immediately felt exposed and started to panic. No one had been that close to his knee after the accident and just the thought of something touching it made him nauseous.  
“Oh my gosh, kid. That is awful.” The agent saw all of the surgical scars, bruising, swelling, and discoloration. However, the worst part of it was the way Reid’s face looked. How could he not of noticed it before? The pure agony in his eyes was enough to make Morgan’s heart weep.  
“Kid, you have to come to my house for at least the week. No way am I letting you go up and down those stairs and get around your apartment with your leg looking like that.”  
“Morgan… please…” Reid tried to protest, but a stern look from Hotch set him straight.  
“Fine, whatever.”  
Hotch and Morgan got to work packing Reid a bag of clothes and books to bring to Morgan’s house. The genius could read more books in a week than Morgan could in his lifetime, so that bag was quite heavy. After collecting all of his belongs, the two older agents made their way back to Reid.  
“Reid, I don’t know how we are going to get you back down those stairs. I can’t carry you because I still have lifting restrictions… but maybe Morgan can,” he glanced over to the other man.  
“Yeah, that’s fine with me. It’s going to hurt like hell for you, but I don’t think there is any other way,” Morgan replied.  
Spencer’s mind was filled with fear. Those two couldn’t see him cry. He was terrified of what was to come. It was hard enough going up and down those stairs by himself with no one to embarrass himself in front of.  
“Reid… hello….” Hotch was calling out. Reid must have been caught up in his thoughts.  
“Uhh, I guess that’s okay. I don’t know if my knee can handle being jostled around while being carried. I can just use my crutches, trust me, it’s okay.”  
“Come on, Pretty Boy. I really don’t want you to move your knee at all, just let me help you.”  
The younger agent was clearly unhappy with the situation but nodded in agreement.  
The next challenge ahead of them was trying to get Reid into some sweatpants and then putting his brace on. The kid tried to convince him that he could put them on himself, but the other two refused.  
“Reid, you are not doing that by yourself. You can’t stand on one leg that long and the other one is completely non-weight bearing. We are going to help.” Hotch advanced to the couch.  
“Okay Hotch, but please don’t touch my leg. I can’t handle it.”  
The oldest profiler returned a nod of understanding and set to work. They got the youngest up onto one leg while Morgan helped him balance. He slipped on one leg and then set him back down. He got the other leg into the pants and pulled them up onto the boy’s skinny frame. The next step would be a long and painful process.  
“Hey kid, where is your brace?” Morgan questioned.  
“It’s over by the coffee table.” The boy gestured with his hand.  
Morgan made his way over to the table and grabbed the black support. The thing was massive. It reached from the boy’s hip to his ankle. Putting this on him was going to take forever.  
“How do you want to do this?”  
“Uhh… I guess let me try, I seriously don’t want anyone’s hands that close to my leg,” Reid replied.  
The older agent thought that Spencer’s idea was for the best and passed the support onto the kid. He watched in pure agony as the boy pulled the brace up to his leg and let out a slight yelp. The first strap sparked a tear as he made his way halfway down his thigh and halfway up the bottom of his leg. All that was left were the knee straps, but the kid’s hands were shaking so badly, it scared him.  
“Kid, you need to take a break and breath for a second. I can’t keep watching you cry.”  
Spencer agreed and closed his eyes. He couldn’t stop the tears from flowing down his face. He couldn’t tell if it was from the pain, the fact that two of his closest friends were watching him, or a combination of the two. He decided on the last one.  
“Morgan, I can’t do it.”  
“You want me to try? I can promise that I will not be as graceful as you are,” Derek reminded the boy.  
“Hotch… will you please put on the last of the straps… I can’t do it,” the kid cried out.  
Never in a million years did Spencer think he would ever have to ask that of his supervisor. Nevertheless, it had come out of his mouth and there was no going back.  
“I can try Reid, but it is going to hurt.” Hotch made his way over to the kid. He quickly tightened the last four straps with ease.  
No matter how gentle the man was, the pain Reid felt was tormenting. His knee felt like it was being ripped apart. He started to bawl his eyes out. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t keep the levees behind his eyes from breaking.  
Hotch looked over to Morgan with a deep sense of guilt. He knew that the kid would’ve cried even if he had done it himself, yet the idea that the four swift movements of his own hand caused that much destruction was heartbreaking.  
“I’m fine,” Reid pushed out through his short breaths.  
“Okay, Hotch. I think it’s time to go. We need to get him downstairs and into my car so I can take him home.”  
The older man agreed and helped the boy up once again. This time, Morgan lifted the kid up bridal style being careful not to put too much pressure on his knee. The kid let out a sigh as tears rolled down his face. Who knew that this much pain even possible.


	2. Chapter 2

In about 25 minutes, all three men had made it to Morgan’s house. It was a small, single bedroom house with very little color. But it made sense, Morgan seemed like a pretty simplistic guy.   
“Well I am going to head back to my house, I have to put Jack to bed by 8:30,” Hotch remarked as he glanced at the clock which read 8:09.   
“We will see you tomorrow at the office. Have a good night.” Morgan walked him to the door.   
“Morgan, I don’t want to see you or Reid at the office tomorrow. He needs to rest that knee before it gets worse or it won’t ever heal, and he needs you to take care of him. I will send some visitors over later in the week if you guys feel up to it,” Hotch said in a hushed tone.   
“Awesome, I was thinking the same thing about the kid. I honestly don’t know how long his body will be able to keep up. That leg looks disgusting and I don’t think he can even stand up without his other knee threatening to buckle.”  
Hotch once again nodded in agreement and headed out the agent’s house and to his car. The team's youngest was truly in as much pain as Hotch himself. After being stabbed, he didn’t think that anyone else could be worse off, but he was wrong. The look of absolute fear and torturous pain on the kid’s face was enough to make anyone feel bad. 

It was two days later and Reid’s knee hadn’t made any improvement. He only got up to go to the bathroom a couple times a day with Morgan’s help. He was actually happy that he accepted his friend’s help and thanked Morgan frequently.   
“Hey, the team is coming over for dinner tonight. We thought it might make you feel better and take your mind off your leg. I understand if you don’t think you can handle it though. Just let me know what you want to do.” Morgan said as he walked into the living room.   
“That sounds like a great idea,” Reid said in reply.   
Morgan wasn’t quite sure whether or not the kid was telling the truth. Just two days ago the kid couldn’t bear for anyone to be close to his knee, let alone sit next to him.   
“Not that I feel any better, in fact, I think my knee is more swollen than it was the day after the incident, but I need my family,” Reid said aloud, interrupting Morgan’s thought.   
The fact that Spencer called the BAU team his family warmed Morgan’s heart. He was glad someone else on the team shared the same views. That team was something special, a team made in Heaven.   
Morgan got out his phone and informed Hotch that the plan was a go. Hotch spread the news that the team’s monthly dinner would be rescheduled and held at Morgan’s house. Later that night, everyone got ready and headed out. 

Knock, knock. About two hours later, the team started to arrive at Morgan’s house. First was Hotch to check up on Reid. The team leader still wasn’t convinced that the kid was ready to be surrounded by so many people.  
“Hey Reid, how's the leg?” Hotch remarked.  
“Not any better. It hurts really, really bad. I don’t know how I am ever going to walk again. I have a physical therapy appointment tomorrow and I’m really not looking forward to it.”  
“Yeah, I know how you feel… well kinda. The physical therapy appointments I go to for my shoulder and torso are like hell. They hurt so badly, sometimes I feel like the staff tries to inflict the most pain possible.”  
“Last time at my appointment they tried to poke around on my knee and check for sensitivity and I almost threw up. I don’t think a single one of them has ever got a bullet through the leg and if they did, I don’t think they would appreciate someone poking at it either.”  
Reid and Hotch shared a short laugh that was cut off by another knock at the door. Reid just then realized that he was still in the sweatpants from several days ago with the giant brace covering the left leg. He certainly didn’t realize that or he would’ve changed.   
Just then Rossi walked into the house to see a pale, pained, and disheveled looking Reid.  
“Oh, Mio Dio!” Rossi practically shouted which startled the young man causing him to jump and wince. “I didn’t think it was this bad, can you even stand up?”  
“Not really. It usually takes Morgan’s help or a lot of willpower from me.”  
The older agent looked Reid up and down to inspect the damage. Not only did his knee look like it was encased in a block of cement, but his face and body depicted a man in pure agony. The kid definitely needed some time off or he might not ever be a field agent again.   
“Well, I think you need a lot more rest before you will be up and running again. You keep that knee on the couch because you don’t need to be moving around when you got Morgan as your personal pack mule.”  
All four men laughed at Rossi’s remark and once again were interrupted by the door. This time Garcia, JJ, and Prentiss entered the house. All three women seemed to be in utter horror by Reid’s appearance. Reid obviously picked up on their body language and reacted.   
“Well, it’s nice to see you guys too.”   
“I’m sorry Reid, it’s just… you look so tired and in pain,” JJ replied.   
“Well, you hit the nail right on the head because those are two of the best adjectives to describe me right now. I feel like I’ve been hit by a truck.”  
At this joke, the women seemed to lighten up and realized that Reid was still his witty and funny self.   
All the agents made their way into the kitchen and Morgan went to assist Reid.   
“Pretty Boy, you know that you don’t have to go sit in there if you want to rest your knee. I’m sure we would all be happy to join you in here.”  
The boy rejoiced at the sound of this. There was no way Reid would be able to sit in one of Morgan’s kitchen chairs with how sensitive his knee was to his surroundings. A simple bump of the table could send him into a fit of tears.  
Morgan went to tell the others to come to sit in the living room with Reid while he fixed the boy a plate. Nothing too spectacular as Morgan wasn’t exactly the best chef in the world. However, he was pretty okay at making spaghetti although it didn’t require much talent. Upon the arrival of Morgan’s message, the team came to sit in the living room.   
Reid feared that someone might try to sit on the couch with him and bump his leg. He had already made a fool out of himself in front of Morgan and Hotch trying to put his brace on previously and he wasn’t about to do it again. Thankfully, no one attempted to sit next to the genius and instead pulled in chairs from the dining room.   
After about ten minutes or so, Reid suddenly went super pale and practically screamed.   
“Ahhhh… Morgan…. Morgan…. Oh my God….” The boy started to moan and threw up to the side as he gripped his leg.  
“Reid! Reid! What’s wrong?” Morgan yelled back in return as he ran in from the kitchen.   
“I think… I think I am having a muscle spasm in my knee and… and… Oh my God, it hurts so bad,” the boy wanted to die. The boy’s knee began to contract and the pain grew stronger until the agent was crying out. The team looked around in horror as they watched the youngest go through this terrible trial.   
“What do you want me to do?” Morgan was desperate to help.  
“Try… try to… uh... take the brace off... I guess… I don’t know... what else to do,” the boy replied through short breaths.   
Quickly the older man undid all ten straps and pulled the brace off the kid. At this Reid screamed and grabbed his leg desperate to massage it. Each touch felt like a razor blade, but he pushed that aside. The spasm had to stop.   
After ten minutes of trying to put himself at ease with Morgan on one side and Hotch and JJ on the other, the boy let out a sigh of relief.   
“I think it’s okay now. I don’t know what that was, but that was the worst pain I have ever felt since… well since ever.”

After that scene, most of the team left as they were scared it would happen again. No one felt that they could take that kind of stress and watch Reid go through that again. Each of them felt so bad for him in that moment, they would have done anything to trade places with him. The only people that remained were JJ and Hotch. Morgan was in the kitchen cleaning up, and JJ was busy getting paper towels to try and clean up Reid’s vomit. Only Hotch and Reid remained in the living room.  
“Reid, are you going to be okay?” Hotch asked with true concern.   
“To be very honest, I don’t know.”   
“Well those spasms are bound to happen again and I don’t think you should be alone when it happens. You were hurting so badly I thought you were going to pass out.”  
“Yeah, I certainly felt like I was going to. That hurt more than getting shot in the first place. The only thing I could think to do was try to massage it out, but that hurt even more.”  
Just then the boy realized his brace was on the ground across the living room from where he was sitting from when Morgan had pulled it off. However, he quickly forgot about it as Hotch and he got caught up in a conversation regarding a new case that had just come in.  
“Reid, you can’t go out in the field with us, you know that, right?” Hotch asked.  
“Don’t worry, I don’t even like the idea of moving right now. I would still like to travel out with you guys though and stay behind at the police station. I could communicate with you guys from there and still help out.”  
“That sounds like a good idea Reid, and I know you are already cleared to fly, so you can head out with us on Monday. It’s only Thursday right now, so you should have some time to get some more rest and hopefully get some control over your pain levels.”  
With that statement, Reid realized what a mistake he had just made. He knew that he was bound to have a muscle spasm when he was alone with the local PD at the station. How would he explain that he had been shot and had experienced more pain in the last four weeks than most people do their entire life, times two. Reid wasn’t about to compromise his abilities to help people, so he didn’t retract his offer.


	3. Chapter 3

That Monday, Reid woke up at 7:00 am ready to be back with his team. From the time he was at Morgan’s, he had suffered six more spasms which seemed to get more severe with each episode. He had learned to quickly get the brace off and very lightly massage the area while breathing deep breaths.   
About ten minutes later, Morgan came around from the hallway into the living room, “Hey Pretty Boy! You ready to head out to New York?”   
“I guess, I really don’t like the idea of being surrounded with policemen who don’t understand that if they accidentally bump me, I might be sent into a fit of pain that lasts the entire day.”  
“Don’t worry, we will make sure everyone knows how severe your injury is.”  
Reid felt a wave of relief come across his body at that comment. He was worried the team would downplay the injury so that no one would treat him like a lesser being. Usually, Reid was already treated unequally because of his age.   
“Good, I can’t handle going through anything like that again or I might be forced to lock myself in isolation for the next three months.”  
Morgan laughed and quickly packed his and Reid’s go bags for the trip. In Reid’s, he included multiple bottles of painkillers, the heating pad, ice packs he could put in the hotel freezer, his extra brace, and some of his more baggy pants. He doubted the kid would be able to wear his usual skinny jeans or tight dress pants over his bum knee for very long. That kid could barely wear sweatpants, at the moment he actually preferred shorts.   
Morgan headed back into the living room with some boxers, a pair of dress pants, a dress shirt, and a vest. This is going to be a challenge, he thought.   
“Hey kid, I got you some clothes. I don’t know if you want to try to dress or if you want my help.”  
“I think I’m going to try myself. If I am ever going to live on my own, I’m going to need to start doing things by myself.”   
With that statement, he took the clothes out of Morgan’s hands and set them on the couch. The next task was to remove his brace so he could take off his sweatpants. He undid each strap slowly to test the waters. Each strap hurt quite a bit, but he had to keep going if he was going to prove to Morgan that he was okay. When he reached the strap that went over the part of his knee where the bullet entered, he lost it again. Tears rolled down his face and he tried to get his breathing under control. Morgan was quick to notice the drastic change in his body posture.  
“Reid, I know it hurts. I’m sure it hurts more than I could ever imagine, but you have to keep going or else I don’t think you should go on this trip.”  
Reid understood what Morgan was trying to say. If he wouldn’t undo a strap on a stupid brace, how would he be able to track down an unsub? He calmed himself down and undid the rest of the straps. Each less painful than the one by his knee.   
“I did it,” Reid said quietly as though he had to say it out loud to confirm its validity.   
With that Morgan smiled a bit. While taking off ten velcro straps might not seem like progress to the outside observer, it was a giant leap for the boy.   
Reid then slowly pulled off his sweatpants, careful not to let them brush past his knee as the surgical site was still tender and painful. He put on the fresh boxers and then went to the next challenge: dress pants. The boy put his right leg into the pants and then moved onto his left. He slowly pulled the pants onto his leg and winced a little when it reached his calf. He quickly realized that his knee was in fact too swollen to get his pants over. Of course, could his life get any worse?  
“Hey Morgan, I think I have a problem.”  
Morgan walked back into the living room from the kitchen. Reid looked like he had just fought a war taking his brace and sweatpants off.  
“Uhh… would you mind enlightening me on what exactly that would be?” Morgan replied.  
“My knee is too swollen to get pull my pants over,” Reid said halfway embarrassed.   
“Oh Kid,” He laughed, “I don’t think any of your other nice pants have any bigger leg holes. You can either wear sweatpants or we can cut the leg off of your other pants.”  
“Let’s go for cutting off one of the legs. You can’t see my entire left leg anyway when I have my brace on so it shouldn’t make a difference.”  
Morgan nodded and went into the kitchen to go get a pair of scissors. He came over and cut off the left leg of Reid’s dress pants. The kid slipped them on and predicted a tiny gap of skin that would be left exposed between his pants and the brace. Morgan came over and wrapped an ace bandage from the boy’s hip and down about six inches. Reid thanked him and gestured for his brace.   
He once again put the brace up to his leg and went through the motions of halfway down his thigh and halfway up his lower leg, leaving the most painful places for last. He now conjured up the courage to reach down and tighten the straps over his knee. His entire left leg was covered and that seemed like a win in his mind, so he moved onwards. He took off his two-day old t-shirt and put on his dress shirt and vest.   
“Looking pretty dapper over there, Pretty Boy,” Morgan remarked.  
“Oh yeah, I feel great,” he replied sarcastically. They both knew that was far from the truth.   
Reid got up off the couch with Morgan’s help and a considerable amount of pain and even a couple tears. He quickly got his crutches under his arms and steadied himself.   
“You ready for this?” Morgan asked.   
“Ready for what?”   
“Well, you do realize that you have to get in a car to get to the jet… which means you will have to sit there while your knee gets jostled around from the hundreds of potholes.”  
Reid groaned. He hadn’t even thought of that, but he now dreaded it, “Make sure you bring some ziplock bags because I have a feeling I will be throwing up.”  
Reid was right, he threw up after about ten minutes of intense pain radiating up his leg with each turn. He winced and slipped a tear when Morgan finally parked.   
“Hey kid, it’s okay. We are here now.” Morgan walked around to the passenger door of his SUV and helped Reid get out with little difficulty.  
“That wasn’t so bad compared to the last twenty minutes of hell driving here,” Reid remarked.   
“Yeah, I guess that makes it better by comparison.”  
The two made their way onto the jet and waited for the others to arrive. First were JJ and Rossi arriving only about two minutes apart.  
“Hey Kid, how are you holding up?” Rossi asked with concern. He could still see the tiredness and hidden pain in his eyes.   
“I’m doing okay considering it only took about thirty minutes for me to put on my clothes this morning,” Reid smiled, “... and I had to cut off my left pant leg because my knee was too swollen for them to fit.”  
“Reid, there is no way you should’ve come if you can’t even get your dress pants past your knee, and I’m sure the ride here hurt a great deal.”  
“You have no idea.”  
The conversation went cold shortly after that and Reid realized that his knee was swelling up even more.   
He looked at Morgan with great concern, “I need to get my knee up before it swells any more and I need some pain medicine.”  
The Kid’s hands were shaking while he talked and Morgan could easily see how much pain Reid was really in. He handed the kid a bottle of Tylenol and propped his leg up with a couple pillows on the jet’s couch. Reid took six pills and gave the bottle back to Morgan. The older man was deeply concerned with the dosage he took, it seemed incredibly high.  
Reid fell asleep on the couch shortly after. By this time, the entire team had arrived and saw the poor young man. He looked so small and unnatural with his leg elevated. They saw how big his leg looked through the brace. He looked broken, physically and mentally. Pain can wear a person down pretty quickly.   
JJ went over to cover him up with a blanket. She noticed that everyone was staring at him and figured he would want to be covered and at least partially out of site. She tried to avoid dragging the blanket across his knee but failed when she dropped the edge right above the injured joint. He made a violent movement and awoke abruptly with a pained expression. His body quickly relaxed and he went back to sleep.


	4. Chapter 4

A little while later, the team arrived in New York and headed over to the NYPD office. Reid’s leg certainly wasn’t feeling good as the cold and rainy climate made the pain even worse. Changes in air pressure always caused extreme pain to him.   
Morgan and Hotch walked on each side of Reid as he slowly made his way through the office to great the police chief.   
“Hello, Detective Mann, I am SSA Aaron Hotchner of the FBI’s BAU, I believe we spoke on the phone earlier.”  
“Yes! You seem to have brought quite a few people, which is great. We could use all the help we can get right now.”   
The man eyed the team scanning from left to right and stopped abruptly when he reached Reid. It didn’t take a profiler to see how much pain and hardship that boy had been through. He then saw the bulky brace that covered the boy’s entire left leg. After examining the boy from head to toe, he knew that kid needed time to rest and no way would that knee be a good idea in the busy office. It was a recipe for disaster.   
“Well, this is my team: SSA David Rossi, Emily Prentiss, Jennifer Jareau, Derek Morgan, and Dr. Spencer Reid.”  
The team made their way over to the room where they were told to set up while Hotch and Reid stayed behind.   
“Reid, I can tell you are about to pass out again. You get really pale, then your hands shake, and then you either collapse or another spasm happens,” Hotch went on, “Right now, I don’t like the way your body is handling this injury and I think you need to go get more pain medicine and sit down before someone has to catch you.”  
Reid nodded and made his way over to the rest of the team. He could feel everyone staring at him as he tried to sit down. He hissed when his thigh made contact with the seat and he was sure everyone saw it.   
He started to feel that familiar aching of his ankle that would soon travel up to his hip if he didn’t go elevate it. He feared his reputation as an agent, but he didn’t know what else to do except go find Hotch. Just as he was about to get up, Hotch walked into the room and Reid gave him a look of, “Please get me out of here.”  
The two got out of the room without causing a scene and slowly traveled to the other end of the station.   
“What’s wrong? Well, besides the obvious.”  
“I can feel it getting stronger, like the kind of strength where I actually pass out or throw up. I need to get my leg up before it swells anymore. I knew I never should’ve come here.”  
“Reid, don’t be silly. I’m sure someone’s office has a couch, we just have to ask and I’ll bring you some pills.”  
Hotch went to talk to Detective Mann and was given the keys to another detective’s office who was currently out in the field. Hotch led Reid through the station and into the room where he pulled Reid’s left shoe off with only a small wince and propped his leg up on some pillows. Reid removed his brace to make it more comfortable.   
When Hotch came back with the medicine, Reid was already fast asleep. He hated to see the Kid like this. No one in the world should ever feel the way Reid did at this moment. That one bullet may ruin the rest of his life. Hotch cleared that thought out of his head and left the pills and some water on the side table. He wondered what would happen when the other detective got back and found Reid in his office, but he assured himself that it would be fine.   
But he was more wrong than he could’ve ever imagined… 

Detective Taylor had just got back from the first crime scene and went into his office. He wasn’t expecting to find a strange looking guy on his couch, that’s for sure. He slowly walked over and kicked one of his legs to wake him up, but boy was that a mistake….   
Pain. More pain that Spencer Reid had ever felt in his life. Worse than the actual gunshot, worse than the muscle cramps, worse than the car ride here. In his mind, his knee had just exploded. He screamed so loudly it was amazing he didn’t startle everyone in the station.   
“Oh My F***** God! What the hell was that!”   
He ripped the blanket off his body and pulled up his pant leg to reveal a black, purple, and red knee that was starting to triple in size. There were scars and marks and just about everything else. Reid cried and cried. He didn’t even acknowledge that there was another person in the room, all he knew was that someone had just kicked his wounded knee right where the gunshot was.   
Hotch came rushing in soon after to find Reid and an unknown detective. Reid was in a torturous amount of pain and his knee was even bigger than before. Already a new bruise was forming right over the giant surgical scar.   
Detective Taylor had just realized what he had done. He knew what a gunshot wound looked like because of his old partner that had been shot, and he quickly identified the scarring. Judging by where the wound was, he figured the kid probably already had a shattered kneecap and maybe even part of his femur.   
“I… I… I’m so sorry. I didn’t know his knee was messed up or I wouldn’t have kicked it.”  
“You did what?? That is SSA Dr. Reid with the FBI’s BAU and you probably just took his chances away of ever being a field agent again!” Hotch was fiery. 

“Reid!” No answer.  
“Reid! Talk to me!”  
“I can’t… I can’t breathe,” Reid was struggling for each word.  
“What do you need me to do?” Hotch was desperate to help.  
“I don’t know. Ice… Ice pack… please hurry.”  
Hotch bolted out the door back to where the rest of the team was.  
“Everyone needs to go to Detective Taylor’s office right now. Reid just got kicked in the knee. I don’t know what the damage is, but it’s really bad.”  
With that, Hotch rushed into the kitchen area and grabbed a random ice pack out of the freezer. He then ran back to Reid with incredible speed.   
Reid lay there with a look of desperation on his face. Hotch feared for the boy. He himself had been stabbed through the shoulder not long ago and almost broke down in tears when his son Jack accidentally head-butted the area. He couldn’t imagine what being kicked in a gunshot wound felt like.   
Hotch rushed up and gently laid the ice pack on the boy’s knee.   
“It burns! Hotch…” Reid was crying out for comfort.  
“I know, Reid. You need to keep it on there though, it’s going to help.” He grabbed the boy’s hand and squeezed tight.   
The rest of the team rushed in shortly after to the disgusting sight. Reid’s knee was now swollen up to an unimaginable size and the bruise over his gunshot wound was quickly developing. Morgan rushed over to check out the scene. Without asking anything, he grabbed Reid’s brace. He quickly began to put it on the inflamed area.   
“MORGAN! Stop! That hurts so bad…” The pain from the kick and now his knee being compressed was too much for the kid to handle and he passed out.   
“Oh great job, Morgan. Now not only is his knee destroyed completely, but he also isn’t even conscious!” Hotch was furious.   
“This is no time for ice packs, Hotch! We need to get him to a hospital now!”  
Hotch agreed and helped Morgan fasten the rest of the straps. The two began to lift up the boy but Hotch quickly let go as he felt his shoulder yell out in pain. In all the madness, he forgot how badly he himself was injured.   
Morgan was quick to catch on as to why the kid’s bottom half was dropped back into the couch when Hotch quickly reached up to comfort his own injury. He picked the kid up by himself with ease, after all the kid only weighed 150 lbs tops. The two men rushed quickly down to one of the SUVs and drove to the nearby ER. As soon as they arrived, they ran inside.   
“This is Dr. Spencer Reid. He just got kicked in a month old gunshot wound in his knee. He passed out from the pain. Please help.”  
The nurse quickly got a gurney to lay the genius on and he was rushed back for x-rays. After several hours of waiting in the hospital, the entire team had arrived. Soon after, a nurse came back to get Hotch.   
“Aaron Hotchner?” The nurse called out.   
The man stood up slowly as he was still in pain from straining his shoulder just hours before, “That’s me.”  
“Dr. Reid is awake and would like to talk to you.”   
“Is he okay?” Aaron asked with a serious tone.   
“I am not at liberty to discuss that, but I’m sure he will let you know when you go see him.”   
Hotch nodded and walked back to the room that the nurse told him. He opened the door to see the boy’s knee in an even bulkier brace than before. Reid’s face was red and blotchy as if he had been crying, but how he could blame him after what he just went through.   
“Hey Reid,” His voice trailed off, unsure what mood the agent was in.   
“Hey…” The boy didn’t even look up to acknowledge his boss’ arrival but instead stared down at his injured knee.   
“You okay?”  
“No, not really.” After choking out the reply, he started to cry. “The part of my kneecap that started to heal is completely shattered again. Basically, I am back to square one. The only thing that stayed intact was the muscles and tendons that had already mostly healed.”  
“Oh Reid, I am so sorry. I know that has to be tough knowing that all the progress you made was for nothing.”   
“You have no idea.”  
“Well, I kinda do. I accidentally tried to pick you up after you passed out and forgot about my shoulder. Now it hurts like hell, but I think it will be fine. Obviously nothing close to your injury.”  
They both smiled. Reid was glad there was someone else on this team to share his pain with, even if it was his boss. Those two had been through a lot together, and Reid was starting to see through the tough guy stature that Hotch put on every day for work. Underneath, Hotch was a man in great pain dealing with so many things, yet he hid them so well.   
“Could I… maybe stay at your house for a little while?” Reid couldn’t believe he just asked that.  
“Yeah Reid. That sounds like a great idea, I would love to have you over. You have working arms and I have working legs, so together we make a great pair.   
Reid smiled. He was so happy that his boss agreed. He knew that Hotch needed him almost as much as he needed Hotch.


	5. Chapter 5

The next day Reid was released from the hospital. Hotch, Reid, and Morgan arrived at Hotch’s home and got the boy settled on the futon in the living room. Morgan and Hotch walked into the kitchen to talk.  
“Hotch, you do know how hard it’s going to be for you to take care of him, don’t you?”  
“I know, Morgan. The doctors have him on strict bed rest for three weeks aside from physical therapy starting next week.”  
“The kid hates physical therapy, by the way. It is really hard to get him out of the house because he doesn’t want to go. And he usually doesn’t sleep after each appointment because they work his knee too hard. And make sure you--”  
“I got it, Morgan,” the older agent smiled. He knew how much Morgan cared for the boy and that he only wanted the best for him. 

A week went by without incident. Hotch and Reid had developed a pretty convenient routine. Hotch would wake up every morning and go to work, someone from the team would always come to eat lunch with Reid, and Hotch and Reid would always spend the evenings together. Except for Wednesdays, that’s when Hotch had his physical therapy appointments and then he would come home with a defeated look on his face and go to sleep immediately. Before sharing a house with him, Reid had never realized how much pain Hotch was in on a daily basis. The look on his face and the amount of pain medication he took was only clear after spending so much time with Hotch.   
“Hey, Reid.” Hotch hollered as he carried lunch to Reid from the kitchen.  
“Hello…” Reid had been dreading this day since his re-injury: his first physical therapy appointment.   
“Are you ready for today? I guess that’s a stupid question, no one is ever ready for therapy,” Hotch remarked.   
“Well, I am certainly not looking forward to it.”  
Hotch took the hint not to keep discussing the topic and instead started talking about one of the BAU’s current cases. 

A couple hours later, the two made their way out to Hotch’s car at a slow, painful pace. Hotch had tried to help Reid the best he could, but his own injury was still healing and didn’t need to be aggravated. After a 20-minute car ride, the two arrived at the physical therapy office.  
“I am here to sign in Dr. Spencer Reid.”  
“Oh yes, here is the registration form,” the secretary handed over a green clipboard with about 5 pieces of paper.   
Hotch groaned. He hated registration papers and how long they took to fill out. He shuffled back over to where Reid was sitting un-patiently.   
“Here are the papers you have to fill out. Good luck.” He smiled and sat down next to the genius and waited while the boy answered 100 questions about his health history. Finally, after 30 mins, Hotch turned in the paperwork.   
“Dr. Spencer Reid,” the doctor called out into the waiting room.   
Reid slowly rose to be careful not to let his foot touch the floor and maneuvered his way to the doctor. Hotch watched idly as his friend made his way to the torture chamber. 

“Hello Dr. Reid, it’s nice to meet you. I am Dr. Kelly.”  
“It’s nice to meet you as well, but please, call me Spencer,” the boy remarked.   
The doctor was surprised by the pained look in the kid’s eyes and the look of desperation. She felt bad for him.  
“Well, let's get started so we can get you out of here as soon as possible.”  
Spencer nodded with uncertainty.   
“I am going to start today with a bit of a sensitivity test so I can determine the best plan of action that is appropriate with this type of injury.” She took off the brace from his knee and he let out a whimper and tear.  
The doctor rolled up his pant leg to reveal a gruesome looking joint, even she was a bit disgusted by the look of it. She began pushing and poking at different parts of his leg watching for signs of obvious pain.   
“Do you want to take a break?” Dr. Kelly inquired.  
Reid opened his previously clenched eyes with tears running down his face. His hands were shaking and he was going extremely pale. He replied, “What… uh… yeah… I… I think I just need a minute to… uh....”  
The doctor nodded in agreement and walked back to her small office. How was she going to ever get this kid back on his feet? This was easily one of the worst knee injuries she had ever seen and wasn’t quite sure how to even start treatment. After about 15 minutes, she walked back into the examination area.   
“Dr. Reid… I mean Spencer… I think that was enough for one day and I am confident I gathered enough data to develop your treatment plan… I also--”  
“Thank you,” the boy said shortly. He gathered his brace and started the slow, painful process of putting it back on. He had already humiliated himself, so why hold back now? He started crying with each strap and hissed as he swung his legs off the table. The boy made his way out to the waiting room.   
Instead of Hotch being there, who he had hoped would comfort him and help him deal with the immense pain he was currently in, he saw Rossi.   
“Hey Reid. Hotch had to go to an emergency meeting with one of the detectives from the case we were working on, so I figured I would come and drive you.”  
Reid was too upset and weak to reply, but instead, he nodded and moved towards the door where he waited for Rossi to open it. The older man soon came over to assist him and lead him out to his car. Great! Reid thought, How am I going to sit in this little car with my knee all crammed up for 20 minutes?  
Rossi opened the back passenger side door to reveal a pillow and blanket padded back seat with a bottle of pain medicine.   
“Thank you, Rossi....” His voice trailed off as it gave way to real tears, ones that wouldn’t stop flowing.   
Rossi hugged the boy’s waist, not only to comfort him but to keep him from collapsing. 

After the car ride home, Reid fell asleep on Aaron’s couch once again. Rossi was conflicted as to whether or not he should leave the genius by himself. He decided that after seeing the side effects of the boy’s injury, he should probably stay.   
Hotch arrived home a couple hours later to find both Dave and Reid asleep in his home. How could he not take advantage of this moment? He reached into his pocket and took a picture of the two sleeping men.   
“H-Hotch?” Reid opened his eyes.  
“Hey, Reid. How are you feeling?”  
“Not good. It hurts. N-Need medicine…”   
Hotch knew what he meant, physical therapy took a toll on Hotch as well. He went into the kitchen and found some Tylenol on the counter. He filled a cup with water from the sink and walked back into the living room.   
“Here is some medicine. It’s still not as strong as it should be. You should really go get your prescription filled, it will make you feel so much better,” Hotch pleaded.   
“Don’t need it…” The boy was already falling back asleep.   
Hotch smiled as the boy’s eyes fluttered shut. He admired him for his strength but worried that the pain would soon take over his life. 

A couple hours later, Rossi awoke and left to go back home. Reid was still fast asleep, but he looked very uncomfortable laying on the couch. Hotch walked over and took off the boy’s shoes. Next, he carefully removed Reid’s knee brace and propped his leg up on a pillow.   
“What are you doing?” Reid yelled out as he was disrupted from his slumber.   
“I was just trying to make you more comfortable, Reid. Really, I was trying to help.”   
The younger man’s eyes were starting to fill up with tears as the usual ache of his leg returned with vengeance, “Oh… Okay....”   
Hotch immediately regretted his decision as the boy reached down to comfort his injury.  
“Do you think you could get me some shorts?” Reid inquired.  
“I do think I’m capable of that…” Hotch smiled.   
Hotch returned with a pair of black athletic shorts with a worn out waistband. He assisted Reid in slipping them on over his knee without much pain. He laid an ice pack on the boy’s knee which only resulted in a slight wince from the genius. Soon, he was once again, fast asleep. 

The next day was Saturday when Reid awoke with a newfound sense of eagerness, “Hotch, maybe the team could all go out to eat tonight at the Chinese Restaurant down the street?”   
“Yeah, I think that sounds like a good idea. I’ll have JJ bring Will and Henry and everyone else will be welcome to bring their family as well,” a slight pause separated the man’s thoughts, “Oh yeah, and Jack will be coming over to stay with me next week, Jessica will be dropping him off.”   
“Sounds like fun. I’ll be glad to at least have someone with an optimistic view on the world around for a couple days,” Reid laughed.   
Hotch went into the kitchen to retrieve his phone and sent out a group message to the team: Hey everyone, we will be having dinner tonight at the Chinese Restaurant down the street from my house at 6 pm. Reid is looking forward to it, so please try to attend, all family welcome.  
Reid was exploding with excitement as the clock ticked to 5 pm when he and Hotch started to get ready. Reid put on a pair of jeans and a button up shirt, overtop of his pants lay his hip to ankle brace. It served as a reminder for everyone to be extremely cautious around the young man although his disheveled appearance probably spoke for that already. 

Hotch and Reid were the first to arrive and the restaurant and got a table. Reid took the head of the table to distance himself from the potential hazard of his knee getting kicked under the table.   
Soon, JJ and her family arrived and took the chairs to the right of Reid.   
“How’s the leg?” Will questioned.  
“Great… it only hurts all the time… so…” Reid was surprised by his own mocking tone and quickly apologized.  
“Nah, I get it. Getting shot hurts, I guess it was a dumb question anyway.”   
The rest of the team arrived soon after and they all ordered. They shared lots of laughs and enjoyed each other’s company. Reid was glad he had something to take his mind off of his leg for once although the thought wasn’t completely gone.   
Soon as the team left to return to their homes, only Reid, Hotch, and Prentiss.   
“Reid… I’m sorry,” Prentiss spoke softly.   
“Sorry for what?”   
“Leaving you at Doctor Barton’s house. If I hadn’t of left, you wouldn’t have got shot and then you wouldn’t be in this pain. You just look so terrible, and I know it’s my fault.”   
“Emily, it wasn’t your fault. Me getting shot wouldn’t have changed even if you were there, most likely. And I appreciate your crude honesty…”   
She quickly realized the mean subtext behind her comment and immediately felt guilty, “I didn’t mean it like that. I’m-I’m sorry. Your eyes just look so dark and in pain. I’ve never seen you sit so stiff and it was pretty hard to ignore your constant groans whenever someone hit the table.”   
He laughed, “I know, trust me it feels worse than it looks.”   
“Let me know if I can do anything for you, I would love to help you out.”   
“Thanks, Emily, I’m glad you guys are always there for me.”


	6. Chapter 6

Another month had passed while Reid was staying with Hotch and Jack. More pain and suffering had come upon the young genius, but things were starting to get better. After the incident on Reid’s first case after the injury, he had been stuck in the office with Garcia. Today was his first day back in the field.   
“Hey Reid, glad to see you are awake already,” Hotch remarked. He looked at the clock that read 5:49.   
“I’m just really excited to get back out their and helping you guys. It’s not very much fun being stuck with Garcia.”   
“Well, at least you are finally back. Grab your crutches and we can go get some coffee before we go into work.”   
“Sounds good.” Reid retrieved his crutches from the side of the couch and quickly got dressed. Putting on his favorite pair of dress pants, a button up shirt, and a sweater vest, he looked in the mirror. For the first time in two months, he didn’t look like a zombie and he was pretty excited about that. His knee still hurt, but things were looking up.   
Hotch and Reid got into the car and headed to the coffee shop down the street. Reid ordered his usual coffee with extra room for sugar and cream. Hotch was more of a black coffee man. After getting back into the car and driving to the office, Reid was antsy with anticipation.   
“Good Morning, boy wonder!” Garcia remarked as he walked through the elevators.   
“Morning! I guess you are going to miss me bothering you all the time.”   
“Oh yes, I will be so sad without your constant serial killer statistics.”   
Reid smiled and made his way into the bullpen and over to his desk. He sat down and took some pain pills with his coffee. It was better to stay ahead of the pain, a fact he learned the hard way.   
He could feel everyone eyes trained on him since he walked, with crutches, into the building, he assumed most people didn’t think he was ready to go back out into the field with his still-healing injury. Feeling a muscle spasm coming on, he quickly went into the bathroom and sat down until it passed and went back out. He couldn’t make anyone suspicious of his ability to perform his job if he was still getting the cramps.   
“We have a new case!”  
The case was a simple one or at least as simple as a BAU case could be. The killer was just an ex-military male who was killing his former soldier peers. It was a case of PTSD that escalated into much worse and provoked violence. Reid got through the case without major incident. No one kicked his knee, and no one even got close to him for the most part.  
Upon returning home, Reid rode back with Hotch to his house. They had both decided that Reid would be okay to return home as long as Hotch made weekly visits to help around the house and make sure Reid took his medicine.   
Only the first couple weeks did Reid feel lonely without Hotch’s constant presence. He wasn’t able to share in his pain anymore; however, after a while, the pain started to diminish. Never going away, of course, that would be too easy. There was always that subtle ache even after the injury was “healed.”  
Hotch stopped coming around after a month or so as he tried to direction Reid back to his independence and privacy that he had earned. Reid appreciated the kind intentions, but he couldn’t help but feel a little sad each Saturday as he sat alone in his living room. Things got better with time, and Reid held on to that little piece of hope he desperately had to grasp during his recovery.


	7. Epilogue

FIVE MONTHS LATER  
Just another day at the BAU for Reid with paperwork and case files filling his desk. Reid looked outside to see the clouds darkening. He quickly checked his phone to see the forecast and audibly groaned when he saw the 100% chance of rain starting that afternoon. Only a couple hours later, Reid felts the familiar ache in his knee.   
He had come to know it as a fact of life. Every time it rained, his knee pain came back with aggression. The pressure change was just too much for the scar tissue as it inflamed. He popped some Advil with his coffee and began to massage the small scar that marked the bullets entrance.   
Hotch rounded the corner by Reid’s desk to see the familiar sight. He knew that the weather would cause Reid to ache as soon as he got up because his own shoulder felt heavy and painful. Hotch knew there was nothing he could do to help but offer his own sympathy and the day off.   
“Hey Reid, my shoulder kinda hurts today,” Hotch smiled. He knew if he blamed it on himself, Reid would be more likely to go along with it.  
“Yeah, my knee is aching too,” Reid replied although he was aware that Hotch already knew.   
“Let's go to my house and turn on a movie. Something to take our minds off of it.” Hotch knew he couldn’t help Reid everytime his knee acted up, but if he could help every once in a while, it could go a long way.   
“Sounds good, Hotch. Thank you,” Reid smiled for the first time in a long time. Hotch and he had developed a great friendship through his time of affliction. Hotch became one of the best friends he ever had. He stood up himself without support from crutches or Hotch and made his way out of the bullpen on his own two feet. Something he didn’t think was possible just eight months before.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!


End file.
